


When Spirits Become One

by oshagirl



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 03:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7417303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oshagirl/pseuds/oshagirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunken into a pit of darness, she thought she'd become untouchable, isolated, but when a spark reaches down to her, she finds hope in the strangest of people. Together with her new-found hope, she faces new and old enemies as well as developing strange but joyous relationships with the ones around her in this new era.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Why me a of all people?" the scarlet haired journalist mumbled to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose as she typed away on her computer. There she sat, and had been sitting for the last three days -without sleep-, trying to find information about something that happened so long ago that even if she discovered something, it wouldn't even make a difference. And if they wanted information on a subject as trivial -to a journalist at least- as that, they should hire a scientist or something. After all, she had actually interesting articles to write. Annoyed, she dialed her superior.

"Listen chief, I really can't find anything. I've searched everything, but it's all empty," she said, masked her annoyance and anger with a load of -fake- guilt.

"There's something with it, I just know it! What else could explain what happened back then?" the man answered, sounding slightly worked up.

"I don't know, but it certainly couldn't be just this one card. Besides, it happened so long ago and the reporters then just let it slip, so why can't we?" the young adult complained.

"Just do your job Tsukumo, or you won't have one anymore!" he hung up.

"I'm so sick of this," Kari sighed as she looked at the card they'd been discussing before.

"Hey sis! Still busy with that assignment?" a certain boy spoke up as he entered the room. When the girl turned around to look at his little brother, she saw he'd just returned from school as his bag was still hanging from his shoulders. He looked at her curiously, hoping she'd spill what it was about since she had said it was important but had not been willing to tell him what it was about.

The older sister shook her head, eyes closed. "I'm done with it. You keep it for all I care." she tossed the card at Yuma, who clumsily caught it. Right now she was too tired to care about the fact she'd given her brother a so called destructive card from the game she wouldn't even want him too play, but right know she just. did. not. care.

"What is it?" Yuma asked before even taken a good look at it, typical Yuma.

"Just freaking look at it," Kari said annoyed.

When he finally did, a bright smile appeared on his face. "Thanks sis!" he exclaimed and ran to his room. As he did, she could still hear him yelling in excitement, much to her exhaustion.

### Break

Sadness.

Sadness was like blood to any other person, it filled her entire being, pumping through her. However, unlike blood, she didn't need it to survive. Instead, it had been destroying her mind, her spirit.

It hadn't always been like that, but she couldn't help surpressing the ever lasting sadness that had overcome her when her partner, her closest friend and only family, passed away. It happened centuries ago. And yet she was still unable to furfill the man's dying wish, as he had asked her not to let it get to her and go look for a new partner. It got to her, badly. What also didn't help her, though, was the fact that she got separated from everyone else she knew not long after that heart chattering event.

There was no one to pull her out of the bottomless well of sadness she'd been sinking in for so long. That's how she referred to it, at least. She thought she'd become untouchable by now as she had abandoned the thought of finding a partner, as well as abandoned the outside world. She didn't care anymore who saw her, none of them would be like him anyway.

Hope.

It felt like a pang through her chest, as if she was shot. She immediately entered a state of shock, in which she remained for a while. She seemed frozen as the alienated feeling spread through her entire being, chasing away the well nested sadness. It was like she was, slowly, being pulled out of the pit she let herself sink in.

How?

How had they been able to reach her?

And more importantly;

Who?

She had to know.

And she would know, the first chance she got.

For the first time in a very long time, she felt motived.

Truly motivated.

_'Thank you, I'll climb the rest myself.'_

### Break

"Woaaaah, awesooome! Sis never gave me a card before!" Yuma exclaimed in awe as he took another look at said card, dropping himself on the floor of his room in the process. When he heard Astral materialize behind him the boy turned around -a big grin on his face- and showed him the card.

"Look Astral! Isn't it awesome? Kari gave it to me earlier!" he said.

Astral studied the card with a focused expression. When he reached out to 'touch' it, he felt a strange, unfamiliar aura surrounding it. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but it didn't feel all that unpleasant either. What was even stranger was that it triggered a feeling within the alien being, one he could not quite place. Debating what to do with it, he deemed it not to be trusted. The moment Astral turned to Yuma with a serious expression, and when he did, the boy's smile faded, replace with a thoughtful expression.

"I don't think it's a good idea to use it, Yuma. It gives me a strange feeling and I don't trust it."

Yuma looked at the card, "Is it a number?"

"No, I'm certain it's not. Whatever it is, it's not a number. Besides, I didn't recover any memory, so it isn't something from Astral World."

"Then I guess we could test it out and see what happens," Yuma said, a smile reappearing.

"Yuma, I really don't think that's a good idea," Astral objected, but his partner seemed to ignore him and slipped the card into his deck.

### Break

The next day the two had tons of arguments as Yuma headed to school, constantly debating whether to use the card they'd gotten yesterday, or not. The debate remained unfinished because of Yuma ignoring his partner once again. He was going to play that card and there was no convincing him otherwise, unfortunately for Astral.

Yuma slept through his classes, like he did every day. And to wake him up, Tori hit him on the head, like she did every day. Despite that, he was fully awake during dueling period. He was in an intense duel with Bronk, him standing at 500 Life Points while his friend stood at 1600. On the field were Yuma's Gagaga Magician, Zubaba Knight and Ganbara Knight and Bronk's Wind-Up Knight.

"Alright, my move! I draw!" Yuma exclaimed, taking his turn. His eyes widened slightly at the card he drew, as did Astral's, who had been watching the duel without any particular interest.

"Yuma! Don't-"

"Hey guys! Let me show you my newest card!" he said with a wide smile, getting everyone's attention. "I sacrifice Zubaba Knight and Ganbara Knight to tribute summon Yubel!"

As the fiend appeared on the field, time seemed to freeze once again. All the colors and sounds made her feel dizzy, too much information flowing into her mind. Once she felt she'd adapted, she took a good look at her surroundings.

'Had I really been away for so long?' she wondered. 'So much has changed.'

She then took a better look at the situation. Her opponent was a chubby boy wearing a cap backwards with some light kaki colored hair sticking out of the opening in the front. To her, it looked pretty funny, and it made her surpress a chuckle.

After the boy recovered from his slight surprise to see such a menacing-looking monster in Yuma's deck, he grinned widely.

"Yuma! It isn't smart to play a monster with zero attack points in attack mode!" he said confidently, putting his hands on his hips.

"Wait, I did?! What!?" a voice -Yuma, she assumed- exclaimed. _'Oh great... my duelist is an idiot...'_ she thought.

"I, uh, I place a card face-down and end my turn! Your move, Bronk!" the voice was male, but young. It sounded even more high pitched due to the panic present in it.

Then Yubel's effect activated, sending Gagaga Magician to the graveyard. It gave a small nod at the fiend before disappearing.

"What just happened to my monster?!" Yuma seemed even more panicked, until another, softer and deeper voice spoke up.

"Yubel's effect requires to send a monster to the graveyard at the end of each of your turns", it explained. The voice was also male and felt almost soothing to her, even if she noticed it lacked emotion.

"Anyway, it's my turn!" Bronk said as he drew a card. "This duel's over! Knight, attack Yubel!"

Amusement glinted in Yubel's eyes as the toy knight approached her. It sliced her arm when an explosion took place making smoke cover the field.

"I win!" Bronk said happily, however, his smile disappeared when he saw that Yubel was still on the field, and his life points had dropped to zero. "What?!" he then exclaimed.

Yuma shrugged, having no idea what happened either.

"The card's effect activated. It can't be destroyed by battle and all battle damage is inflicted to the opponent." the only unknown voice explained in a same tone as before.

Yuma repeated what the voice had said, and Yubel wondered why.

_'It must be some sort of spirit, inaudible for most people,'_ she realized soon.

"Thanks, Astral!" Yuma added afterwards. The last voice's owner was Astral, she figured.

The fiend's hologram faded, but her spirit remained on the earth, invisible to others now. She turned around to look at the two she'd heard earlier. One was a kid with with spiked dark blue hair and two pink bangs, who were spiked as well. The other was a light blue humanoid creature, floating next to the kid. It had small stones adorning its body and a pair of yellow eyes. A to her unknown glow surrounded the being, signifying it wasn't a duel spirit and certainly not human either.

Was that being that had reached out to her unknowingly? Right now she could only wonder.

Even though she hadn't realized it yet, that being, Astral, was her hope.


	2. Chapter 2

"That was certainly an... unexpected card," Bronk said as he cheaply scratched the back of his head. The duel had ended a couple of minutes ago, and the group was now eating lunch on the roof.

"I know! Kari gave it to me yesterday, but Astral told me not to use use it since it didn't look right, but everything fine now so I was right!" Yuma said with is usual grin.

"Moron! What _if_ something happened? You could've caused so much trouble!" Tori exclaimed, hitting him on the head for a second time that day.

"I can see where Astral's coming from though... That card looked kinda creepy..." Cathy muttered absently, to which Flip nodded a bit too.

"Aww, come on guys!" Yuma whined. "I mean, how can we find out what's so strange about it if we don't try it out?" Yuma had a point there, everyone agreed.

"Well, what about we try doing some research on it later? I mean, there must be something we can find out that way," Caswell suggested.

"Are you sure we'll be able to get information that way?" Tori spoke up, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt trying, right?"

After exchanging some looks, they all nodded; "Yeah!"

However, that didn't make them less mad at Yuma for not warning for the rest of the day.

### Break

Not long after the end of the duel, Yubel had returned to the small place within the Spirit World she considered her own. She came back to think and make her conclusions, because she had a lot to do with what she'd seen.

She started comparing her new partner, Yuma, with Jaden. They seemed to have a lot of similarities. Both had a big group of friends, like Jaden, which made her wonder whether he had enemies, and if he had them, how dangerous they were and with how many. Both looked like they weren't the brightest. They also seemed to rely on instincts when dueling, but Yuma's weren't so sharp. That's where that creature, Astral, kicks in. He seemed to do the actual thinking of the duo. When Yuma isn't relying on it, though, his friends were there to help or scold him. That was the impression she got, at least. Then there was that strange spirit named Astral. " _What is it?_ " was the question overtaking her mind when she thought of it.

Astral must be some kind of spirit, she was sure of that, since she noticed that only the ones that were able to see it were Yuma and herself. Yet she had never met or even sensed a spirit like it ever before, despite her long time on both Earth and in the Spirit World. It was so...

Strange...

Yes,

It was strange.

The fact that she was met with something she didn't know yet, after existing for so long, certainly made her curious. She needed to know more. Maybe she could take another look around and hope to encounter the spirit again. Despite her intuition telling her that it would be a bad idea if it found out she was studying it at night, another part thought it was not quite the time yet to face it directly. Aso all she had to do is be patient.

### Break

After waiting, it surely became night sooner than expected, something that both excited her and made her nervous.

Entering the human realm, she was met with a dark room. Waiting for her eyes to adjust, she didn't notice the light of the spirit, which once again gave her mixed feelings.

'Maybe he was somewhere else?' she thought.

She did see Yuma, asleep in a hammock. He was sleeping soundly, and Yubel knew her presence wouldn't wake him.

"My turn... Draw!" he mumbled. She chuckled in her fist. 'Just like Jaden,' she thought. Taking a further look, she noticed a very messy room, artifacts and other seemingly valuable objects.

Her gaze stopped on a certain jar lying in the room, eyes widening. A memory flashed for her eyes, ever so brief, yet very bitter.

### Flashback

_It really was a beautiful day. Then again, in this area every day was so beautiful. The air was a bit moist, though, which made sense, they were in the middle of Brazil after all. It was a small town, close to the dense forest known all around the world._

_"Guys! you should really see this!" the duelist's voice called out, summoning his spirits. As they one for one appeared, Yubel last, he pulled out an old book from his knapsack, Pharaoh complaining when he did._

_"Since when are you interested in books?" Yubel asked, amused by the fact he was frankly flipping the tender pages, looking for something._

_"Since they have this really cool thing about ancient dueling! Duel Monsters has roots all over the world, despite the fact it's known to originate in Egypt."_

_"That's the first sentence in that book, isn't it?"_

_Jaden laughed cheaply, scratching the back of his head._

_"Typical Jaden," Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin spoke up._

_What the book said was true, though. After all, Yubel herself didn't originate from Egypt either._

_"Anyway, for now we're going to look for this!" the brown haired exclaimed, pointing at a picture of some sort of jar. "It's said that the Inca's used those jars to summon powerful creatures from another realm!"_

_"I see, you want to try those out once you find them, don't you?"_

_"Yup! Imagine how cool it would be to try that out!"_

### Break

Despite the fact that those events seemed innocent, they were the start of the end. Sometimes Yubel wished he'd never found that book. That trip lead to a deserted place, something not really surprising, but what they didn't know was the fact that Jaden had picked something up that would have horrible consequences.

Yubel averted her gaze, turning around completely. She left the room, setting her mind back to the problem at hand. Looking around the house, she saw a red haired female.

'His mother maybe?' she wondered, but dismissed the thought when she saw the girl's age, realizing she had to be Yuma's sister, as he'd mentioned earlier the day. Other than that she saw an elderly lady in yet another room. The rest of the house was deserted.

Yet no signs of the blue spirit.

Upon returning to Yuma's room, she studied the boy once again. She noticed a strange pendant around his neck, and an unfamiliar aura coming from it. Curiosity taking over, she reached out and touched it.

With a flash, she was in a completely different place. It looked like some sort of cosmos above her, and a blue desert under her. She noticed her body had become solid too.

'Is this some part of the spirit world? Another realm of it maybe?' she pondered. It made her wonder whether she would be able to come here from her home in her spirit world.

Studying her sudden new surroundings, her eyes fell on a giant golden structure in the sky.

'Weird... Then again, this entire place is strange...' she thought.

Carefully, she headed towards the machine-like object and touched it. It didn't feel like it came from earth, or any other place she's been.

"You. What are you?" a voice spoke up from behind her. It was certainly the creature's.

Yubel turned around to face him, arms crossed over her chest. "I am a duel spirit, Yubel, as you should've figured out by now, actually," she answered, a bit of a sarcastic comment at the end.

"What brought you here?" the alien spirit pushed, seemingly ignoring the female's sarcastic comment.

"Yuma's pendant brought me here. Mind answering a question of my own now? Like, what are you?"

Once again ignoring anything that didn't answer his question. "How do I know I can trust you? What do you desire?"

"Listen, guy, calm down. First of all, have I ever got the chance to prove you can trust me? I've been here for what? a day?" she said, not bothering to be polite. That guy was seriously starting to get on her nerves. Astral's eyes narrowed a bit at her answer, but he seemed to be satisfied with her answer.

"Secondly, isn't that a little bit personal? Asking one's personal desires is not the best thing to do. It might _anger_ some people," she explained, stressing anger in the sentence.

"What do you mean?" he asked, honest confusion in his voice.

'Wait... Is this guy really that naive?' she muttered to herself

Naive.

She realised that he had been like that, not particularly ordering, but just naive.

"Just, can you answer my question for a moment?"

"My name is Astral, I'm an Astral being and my home is in Astral World, wherever that may be. I am supposed to save it. That's all I know."

Realization hit her. "You have amnesia, don't you?" she asked. It must be the answer.

"Unfortunately. You should go, Yuma's waking up."

This time it was Yubel who sighed. She focused, trying to return to her part of the spirit realm. Much to her surprise, it worked. 'I should remember that,' she noted to herself.

### Break

Yubel's departure had left a frown on Astral's face. Her words and behaviour left his mind constantly returning to her. It was so... Real. It was raw, and he wouldn't be surprised if the female had gone through a lot in life already. It was so contrary to his own personality, young and as she'd said; naive, it was so much different to Yuma and any of his friends, as well.

"Observation: Duel Monsters is more than just a game, even without the number's influence. Each monster had a mind and opinion of its own, and those creature's existence can go back centuries." he said to himself.

Astral returned to the numbers, hoping that this new piece of information would trigger more memories. However, the attempt was futile.

His thoughts returned to Yubel. If he were to be honest, she was the first creature he actually showed interest for. Why he was so interested, he didn't really know. This interest was different from his interest in the Earthly matters, another thing he didn't quite understand.

What was sure, was the fact that that one small conversation had left him dazed and things were going to change, one way or another.

### Break

Speaking the truth, Yubel's visit with Astral had brought her more questions than answers. She was now certain of his name, that he wanted to save a place called Astral World, but where and what that place was, was a mystery. All sealed in the boy's head by his own amnesia. What she knew that Astral World was not on Earth, nor in the Duel Spirit World, at least not the realm she lived in. It wasn't the realm she'd ended up bringing Duel Academy to, that was even more different. Did that make Astral an alien, even to her?

These mysteries. So many mysteries. They drew Yubel towards the spirit. She was curious, to say the least, and determined the find out.

"I will do what you asked me, Jaden. I promise. I'm not sure, but I think I might've found something even better than just a partner. I may have found adventure and danger. Friends to make." she said, talking to no one or nothing in particular.

"That is what you actually wanted us to do, right?"

### Flashback

_This was the last place any person wanted to be. After all, you might have to expect the worst here._

_A hospital._

_After a certain journey, Jaden had caught an unknown, ancient virus. It had been in his system for years, slowly invading his body before taking it over. At the start nothing seemed wrong, it took years before the first, minor, effect started showing. And by the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late._

_The time he was ill, he still spent traveling, even if it made the situation worse._

_"I don't wanna go before finishing what I started!" he'd said, his usual smile on his lips and enthusiast behaviour._

_The actually had to force him in a hospital. Now, he was attached to multiple machines._

_He was growing weak quickly. It broke everyone's hearts. Well, those who knew at least. Those people were the nurses, of course, and the spirits. He refused to let his friends know what was going on, hoping they wouldn't try looking for him either._

_"Guys, could you come here?" the man called out as he usually did, but his voice fell away._  
_"You know why I called you all, right?" he asked when all spirits had gathered around him._

_The day everyone'd feared, it seemed to be there._

_"Please don't do this, Jaden," Yubel pleaded. "We can still fight, we'll get over this!" Disbelief was audible in her voice. Winged Kuriboh weakly poked his head against Jaden's, trying to encourage him._

_"It's time. I shouldn't resist something like that. You guys, however, are still needed here. I want you all to look for a new, maybe even better, partner! Someone that's in need for help, someone that's still in need for a help like you guys!" he exclaimed, as far as he could. Sticking up his thumb, he smiled with a wink._

_"Please, we,_ _I_ _beg you!" Yubel cried out, tears streaming over her face. The other spirits were looking away, grief overtaking their expression._

_Everyone felt the same, though, a spirit-crushing gash, tearing their souls apart._

_"Jaden? JADEN!" Yubel yelled, reaching out towards him, but her hand just phased through._

_All they could do is watch as Jaden smiled and closed his glazy eyes, one of the machine's frantically beeped._


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up Yuma has to have been one of the hardest tasks Astral had ever had, not counting dealing with his lacking memory. Why he still bothered to try waking up Yuma was a mystery. It was not the first time he'd tried it, and probably no the last time, either. He looked at the human with narrowed eyes, wondering if the boy could ever get serious enough to Astral's warnings.

The spirit of the ominous card, Yubel, had been awakened, most likely thanks to the duel. She had visited Astral in the key, something he hadn't deemed possible up until now. What made matters worse was that she seemed to have the advantage in experience if things were to take a turn for the worst. She was invasive, mysterious, powerful, most likely dangerous and… Intriguing. The spirit sparked a certain interest inside him and for more than just being a duel monster that isn't a number. Astral needed to talk to Yuma, and it really couldn't wait until morning.

"Yuma, wake up!" he tried once again, only to cause the sleeping kid to turn his back at the being.

"Gagaga Magician… Attack", he mumbled, still as asleep as he could be. That gave Astral an idea.

"I activate Mirror Force, destroying all your attack position monsters", Astral spoke in Yuma's ear.

"Oh no! I uh… I end my turn…" the answer came in a murmur.

"Then it's my turn. I summon Gogogo Golem in attack position and attack you directly, ending the duel."

A yell, louder than the previous, left the awakening boy's lips. Suddenly he sat up, wide awake, only to fall out of his hammock due to the sudden movement. Astral chuckled softly into his fist. _'Maybe I should remember that in the future.'_

"Hey! What's so funny? It's the middle of the night you know, then people should be sleeping", Yuma complained, sleepiness still present in his voice. Astral blinked. What was so funny about that? He didn't really know.

"Nothing that matters," he ended up answering, confusing Yuma.

"You didn't pull a prank on me, did you?" Yuma then asked, frantically looking around to see if there's anything out of the ordinary. This time it was Astral that was confused.

"Yuma, what is a 'prank'?" he asked.

"You don't know? Well, uhm…. It's when you trick someone to do something that's funny."

"So you can hurt someone for your amusement and call it a prank?"

"Nooo! It's never that serious. It's just a couple of silly things."

Astral nodded in response and moved on to the actual reason he woke up the boy. "Yuma, I need to talk to you, it's urgent."

"Why's that?" he replied, rubbing his eyes as he looked up at Astral

"It's about Yubel."

"What about her? I already told you she's no trouble!"

"She was inside of the key earlier."

Yuma jumped to his feet. "What?! Why didn't you tell me?!" He exclaimed, staring at Astral.

"I just did." Astral answered, slight annoyance in his voice.

Yuma scratched the back of his head to that. "Right…. So… You met her, right? What was she like?" he asked slowly.

"Yuma, can't you see that she's dangerous? First the numbers then she appears. This can't be a coincidence. Not to forget how powerful she is. She's a threat to our mission", the being exclaimed frustrated.

"Maybe it's because you don't know her. Maybe she's here to help us."

A glare.

"Fine... I'll be carefull..." Yuma muttered. Astral knew there wouldn't be much of a difference, but at least it's better than nothing. Still, Yuma's words stayed on his mind. There was a possibility that what he'd said was true. He didn't doubt that possibility. However, he also deemed the risk too high to go for it. What if she was after the numbers after all? She could destroy the both of them and then what would become of them? Astral would vanish forever and Yuma… Well who knows.

Meanwhile, the subject at hand had been listening to the two male's conversation. Astral's general unknowing amused her a bit, if she were honest, while Yuma reminded her once again of her previous partner. Both still had a lot to learn, it seemed. The first thing would be to stop arguing and rather come to an agreement, rather than one forcing his opinion on the other. On the other hand another mystery was added to the growing list.

' _What are numbers?'_

Maybe it were the mysteries around him that fascinated Yubel so much. Despite his inexperience, it seemed like Astral was an intelligent, if not too intelligent, being that knew how to take care of himself. She wished she could get to know the being, but seeing how cautious he is that might never happen. For all he cared she might be in a ditch the next day. Yubel huffed internally. She wouldn't give up on her dearest person's wish so easily. She'd show him that she could be on their side, rather than collecting numbers, whatever those are.

### Break

Retreating to the key after their conversation, Astral was left alone with his thoughts once again as Yuma got ready for school. However unlike before, he didn't feel all that secure about the fact that he'd be alone. After all, Yubel had entered the key before, what would stop her from doing it again?

Yuma said he'd be on guard when it came to Yubel, but Astral highly doubted that fact. The thought of being around her again left him with multiple feelings. A mix he couldn't quite recognize. He summoned an image of her according memory. She was a strange being. Elegant yet powerful. Almost enchanting…

' _Maybe I should ask someone?'_

On the other hand Astral couldn't shake the feeling that he couldn't tell anyone about it. His mind was against it, but maybe if he saw her again, he would be able to know…

### Break

"Come on, come on, come on! What could be taking him so long?" Yuma exclaimed as he was walking circles before his house. What was worrying him so much Astral didn't know.

"What could be taking who so long?" The being decided to ask, eyebrow raised.

"The deliverer of dreams and of hopes," Yuma answered, marching at the spot.

"That does not happen," Astral answered him, rolling his eyes. Yuma didn't reply.

"Yeah, he's here!" Yuma said excited. A mailman arrived rode by on a scooter. Yuma looked at him, but the man didn't stop nor notice him.

"Hold on, hey! Wait up!" he yelled and ran after him.

"Don't you have a letter, in your postbag, for me?" he asked while catching up on him, jogging right next to the person. When the man continued to ignore him, Yuma ran in front of the scooter, causing the abrupt stop of the vehicle to avoid running over the boy.

"The name's Yuma Tsukumo," he said, pointing to himself.

"Let me double check this…" the guy said annoyed as Yuma's eyes shone with hope.

"Nope, no mail for Yuma Tsukumo," He said and rode further. Yuma sunk to ground in tears.

Later at school it became clear to Yuma that he had to apply to participate in the tournament, something even Astral deemed as common sense. That moment Astral learned and truly understood a new feeling: shame, embarrassment. Astral also realized that that was one of the feelings in the mix. Yuma begging for a heart piece at the door of Heartland City sure made Astral get to know the feeling well.

Yuma stopped banging the door for a moment and when it stayed silent, he sat down, leaning against the gate. He sighed and looked on the verge of crying.

"Hey, cheer up Yuma. There are going to be other tournaments", Tori said with a sad smile, putting a hand on his shoulder.

While Astral didn't really want to disrupt them, he also felt that this would probably be the only chance he has to get answers. "Hey, Yuma, can I ask you something?"

Yuma looked up at his partner, quickly wiping away his tears. "Sure Astral, what's wrong?" he answered, though sadness was still audible.

Astral hesitated, not sure how to explain it. "I have this strange feeling… Can you tell me what it is?"

"Well, can you describe it?" Yuma answered, raising an eyebrow.

Astral hesitated again. "It's this odd sensation in my stomach, and I can't clear my mind, it's like I can't stop thinking…"

"Is something wrong Yuma?" Tori interrupted, unable to hear the blue creature.

Yuma frowned. "It's Astral. I think he's sick, he says he has a strange feeling in his stomach."

"Anything else?" Tori then asked with a worried expression.

"Well he can't clear his mind, it's like he can't stop thinking", Yuma repeated. "I think he really needs a doctor."

With that Tori hit Yuma straight on the head, to which Yuma yelled in pain.

"Hey! What was that good for?!" he exclaimed, rubbing the spot he'd been hit.

"You idiot! Can't you see Astral has a crush on someone?!" Tori yelled in response.

"Yuma, what does that mean, 'having a crush on someone'?" Astral spoke up, confusion visible.

"It means you _really really_ like someone you know", Yuma answered rather bluntly before glaring at Tori again.

"Don't listen to him, Astral, he doesn't know what he's talking about! It means you're in love with someone", Tori said, snapping the first part in Yuma's direction.

When Astral's expression didn't change and no answer came, Yuma frowned. "You don't know what that is either, do you?" Astral shook his head.

"It means that you have the feeling that you want to stay with that person for your life, no matter the bad things that could happen." Tori explained with a sweet smile. "Who's the lucky lady?"

Before Astral could say anything, guards, most likely belonging to Heart Land. "Look kid, time to leave", they said.

"But I don't have a heart piece yet!" Yuma whined, clinging to the guard. Astral created distance, away from the scene and more feelings of embarrassment.

"What's all this commotion for? What's the kid trying to pull this time?" he suddenly heard Yubel say. She was floating not far away from him, and appeared to have arrived not long ago, as she was focussing on Yuma and the event unfolding below. Realizing the conversation that had been going on seconds ago, Astral hoped she hadn't caught anything about it. Heat slowly rose to his cheeks.

"It's a long story", he answered with a sigh.

"I'd like to apologize," Yubel spoke up, making him turn to her surprised.

"About last night, I would also react like that if someone invaded my home like that," she explained.

Those words shook him even more. _'Maybe she wasn't so bad? No. I shouldn't let my guard down so easily.'_

"How about we start over?" she asked. He stayed quiet for a moment, considering the option.

"I would like that", Astral replied, nodding.

"I am Yubel", she then said, extending her hand towards the boy.

"Astral." He reached out for her hand, somewhat expecting it to go through hers. However, it did not. We both stared at our hands, connected. The sensation of touch sent a chill down Astral's spine. A pleasant one, he admitted to himself. Even after letting go, the imprint still burned in his hand, already desiring for more.


	4. Chapter 4

The World Duel Carnival, the WDC for short, was a tournament held in the city that had gotten quite the attention since its announcement and was attracting masses of people –duelist or not- to the city. To advance, participants had to duel, betting for a heart piece. If they could collect five, they could get to the next round.

At least, that was what Yubel had been told when she asked for an explanation for all the hearts, the huge cart and the noise that came with them.

Apparently Yuma had wanted to the enter, however made the mistake of not signing up, and was now at the gate trying to get a heart piece –the key to entering- from the operation committee. The boy was met with a man in a somewhat strange suit, who boasted loudly about how lucky Yuma was. The two spirits had watched the scene from above, curious about the events.

A large wagon came through the gates, outrageously decorated with hearts and lights, the vehicle accompanied by litterbots trumpeteering. The parade spread out around Yuma and his friends, halting before them. On top of the wagon were 3 people, in front a man in suit who seemed to match the wagon's style perfectly, and then a pair behind them, a purple haired woman and a red haired man.

"Isn't it pretty strange that they decided to make an exception for Yuma specifically, though?" Yubel remarked, tilting her head a bit.

"Now that you mention it, it is indeed rather odd", Astral answered with a nod.

"Hey Astral! Check out what I got!" The two heard Yuma call from below. He was waving his arm around, showing off what Yubel assumed to be a heart piece. He looked up, finally finding his partner, but also noticing the female.

"Oh, hi Yubel!" he yelled up at her, much to said person's surprise.

In return, Yubel waved with a small smile. She was purposefully reserved, knowing that, despite Yuma's welcoming tone they still suspected her. She didn't want to invade them either, if anything it would push them away even further. She didn't need that to happen again after what happened in the pendant before.

"Come on!" he then said, inviting them both to come down. The man, along with his mini-parade, had disappeared back into the gate. "Nice to meet you! The name's Yuma!" he introduced himself once the two had descended back to the ground.

"Wait, she's here?!" the green haired girl, Tori if Yubel recalled correctly, exclaimed.

"Activate your duel disk and use my card", the duel spirit suggested, faintly extending her hand towards it.

Astral quietly observed what was going on, not quite understanding the point of all that. He did notice that there was a shift in Yubel's behaviour, not quite different, but not quite the same either. It seemed to be a change in tone instead.

"Oh, alright", Yuma said confused and did as told. Upon activating the card there was little to no difference for Yuma and Astral, but the startled expression on their friends' faces showed that it had in fact worked. The fiendish creature in the air above them as well.

Again, Yubel waved, knowing that her appearance was not exactly the comforting kind. Not looking menacing was the key, even if it meant looking a tad silly instead. And while they were still shaking in their shoes, she did see that it could've been worse.

"N-nice to meet you, Yubel", Tori stuttered, the rest of the group nodding to show they felt the same way, albeit unable to actually say it.

"And it is a pleasure to finally meet you all properly as well, Tori", Yubel answered, making a small now.

The group jumped in surprise of the sudden movement. Yubel stopped in her tracks as well. Maybe she'd overestimated her abilities to appear less of a threat.

"H-how do you know my name?" the green haired girl blurted out.

"Ah. Well, I've been observing the era I ended up in, your names included." she said, and then looked at each of Yuma's friends separately, naming them all in the process.

Astral's head perked up at her words. _'Yubel had been observing too?'_ Astral wondered quietly. She'd only been in this place for a short while, less than a day, yet she seemed to have gathered much more information than him. Then again, she had been in on Earth before. How long had it been since then? She said 'era', so he couldn't imagine it not being a long time.

Tori had a similar question.

"Era? What do you mean?" she asked.

"How long has it been since you last were here?" Bronk chimed in.

Yubel hesitated, thinking about her words. "How long has it been?" she pondered out loud, a small sigh coming from the group. "Turbo dueling…" she recalled.

"Doesn't ring any bells here… that must've been so long ago!" Cathy exclaimed.

"What's that like?"

"It makes you feel very... out of place," the spirit muttered. A sudden feeling sadness overtaking her. What she said was something that she didn't want to admit, but was always there, in the back of her mind. Ever since Jaden had passed, she'd struggled with that fear, finding herself trying to fit in in a group, into a timeline, she didn't belong in. She was afraid of not finding a purpose, a new place to belong. Her entire life, her entire existence, had revolved around Jaden, even during the time before she became a spirit. "How could-" her thoughts were cut off.

"Yubel, are you doing okay?" Yuma spoke up, noticing her sudden sad expression. She hadn't said anything since the last question, despite new questions were thrown at her regularely. A silence quickly overtook the atmosphere, the rapid fire of questions stopping at that one.

Yubel's train of thoughts stopped, her eyes focussing on the kids again.

"I-I'm sorry", she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Then she disappeared, her only trace a now motionless hologram.

Everyone was surprised at the duel spirit's sudden exit, leaving them quiet for a while.

"Why'd she leave?" Flip spoke up. Everyone looked at Yuma, who just shrugged, equally confused.

The feeling of loneliness was something Astral had only heard of. Most of his time was spend with Yuma to observe the strange world around him, and the time he hadn't, he was inside of the key, trying to figure out himself and his lost memories.

As such, he has never really felt the desire of company, and thus has never felt lonely.

Yet, he thought he understood Yubel.

If anything, Yubel had made a fascinating impression on Astral. Her existance alone had already perked his interests, even their first meeting was on the rough side. The being had to be quite old, and placing himself in her shoes, he could understand what she was going through. She'd found herself in a new environment, a new way of life that may have rendered her previous knowledge useless. Unlike him she still had her memories, but if they can't be used in the present you may as well be without them.

This reaction had made him even more curious. He wanted to know what the spirit's past was. What knowledge she contained, and maybe learn from it. There might even be a chance she had indirect information about himself. A small chance, however not an opportunity he could let slip.

The only thing left to do for him, is finding her.

### Break

Memories are a fickle thing. One moment they fill you with joy, the other they break you, reminding you of loss or sadness in such a manner that you feel that you can't continue anymore, and the future is only a thought, buried underneath the pain on the past.

At moments like this Yubel wondered if she'd be happier without her memories. It made her envious of Astral, in a strange way. Existence without the past haunting her sounded surreal to her, yet she secretly wished such a thing was within her reach.

Images of Jaden came to mind. Jaden smiling, laughing and just enjoying himself, however also images of his frustration, his sufferings. None of the memories were unfamiliar, yet they summoned new sadness inside of her. Despite being surrounded by others for the first time in a very long time, Yubel hadn't felt any lonelier in her existence.

"How could he expect me to continue without him?"

"Who expects you to do that?"


	5. Chapter 5

### Earlier

The walk home had been rather quiet. Despite Yuma was overjoyed about his heartpiece, the duel spirit's last words still wandered his mind. He wasn't the only one, too. All his friends seemed to be bothered by it. While small chit chat still took place, it always awkwardly die down again, the silence returning.

Astral watched the group from the sky, a small distance between them and himself. Unlike Yuma and his friends, he was pondering about other things than Yubel's words. Once again he was taken back by the abilities duel spirits could possess. He started to doubt his earlier thoughts.

"Could she really hold any information about him or the numbers? Or am I overthinking this all?" he asked himself in silence. After all, Astral did not know how far Yubel's knowledge reached. It seemed like the only way to find out was to ask her.

It brought him back to his earlier question: how?

"Hey Astral, what's wrong?" Yuma's voice sounded. The spirit had been so deep in thought he hadn't noticed Yuma, let alone they'd reached home.

"Do you think Yubel could hold any information in the numbers? Or maybe about myself or Astral World?" Astral asked in return, finally speaking his mind.

The boy was a bit surprised about the question. He thought for a moment. "Well… if she knew anything, wouldn't she have told us?" he stopped for a moment. "Then again we never really asked her either…" he then said. "Eeehhh, I don't know Astral", the boy concluded.

Astral frowned, uncertain. Then he remembered something Yubel had said. Just like how he had reached the inside of the key for the first time, Yubel had, accidentally, reached it in the same manner, by touching it. Might he be able to do the same to reach her? "Yuma, can you show me Yubel's card?" Astral asked.

"Uhhh… sure, why?" Yuma answered as he reached into his deck case to grab it.

"It is as you said, the only way to get answers is to ask her. It's no use pondering about it like this, it'll only create more questions." Astral reached out to touch the card, filled with a sudden burst of determination.

"Wai-" Yuma's cry was cut short as the card suddenly flashed and by the time the light faded, Astral was long gone.

### Break

Black.

If anything, Astral would describe the place as black. If it weren't for his natural glow, the spirit was convinced he wouldn't be able to see his own hands before his very eyes. When his eyes had adjusted to the dark area, he actually did notice the presence of light, coming from behind him. He turned around, finding himself in a rather narrow tunnel. He saw the exit in the distance, however doubted that the light was his destination. Astral took a deep breath, the dull yet moist air filling his body. Then, he turned his back to the light once again and started heading deeper into the tunnel. Astral placed his hand on one of the walls, letting it trail next to him as he continued. He didn't quite know why, but it made him feel safer.

Astral observed his environment as he continued, the structure of the tunnel was very rough, so it must've been around for quite some time. The slightly crumbling walls and quality of the air supported this theory. On certain, better maintained parts of the wall he found what seemed to be sentences, however it was written in a language he could not understand.

After quite some time, the tunnel slowly reached its end. Upon noticing this, Astral slowed his pace. Carefully he peeked into the room, which turned out to be a large chamber. The chamber was in a much better state than the tunnel leading to it, seemingly completely intact. Torches, along with writing similar to what he'd seen before, decorated the walls. The place was only dimly lighted, however, as only few of the many torches were lit. In the centre of the chamber Astral could recognize a shadowy silhouette he knew was Yubel. Her figure was scrunched over, hands wrapped around her legs and her forehead resting on her shoulders. Rather than approaching her, Astral waited, observing the fiend slight movements.

A fiend… yet so different from any other of its kind, at least based in those Astral's met. Astral concluded that Yubel didn _'_ t classify as a fiend beyond her dark appearance. A sudden movement in Yubel's form stopped his train of thought. She lifted her head, staring at the ceiling.

"How could you expect me to go on without you?" she asked, her voice breaking. Astral knew she wasn't talking to him, she was still unaware of his presence.

"Who expects you to do that?" he asked before he could stop himself.

With a gasp Yubel's head snapped in his direction, eyes widened. The remainder of the torches on the wall lit up, along with a chandelier hanging of the ceiling, previously hidden by the shadows. Upon seeing Astral, she slowly started creating more distance between the two, despite the fact that there already was a large gap between them.

She seemed to be at a loss of words, yet her baffled expression showed that there was a lot going on in her mind. At times she would open her mouth to say something, only to then close it without having said anything. Only after a few moments she was able to respond. "What are you doing here? How did you even get here? Just… who are you…?"

Yubel had an aura of hostility surrounding her, something Astral couldn't blame her for. After all, he'd invaded her home, and saw his own behaviour in hers when she'd done the same to him. Astral thought a few moments about what he was going to say, he had to handle the situation carefully.

"I'll… I'll show you. I'll tell you everything I know, but to do so you need to come with me. The answers are in the key", Astral explained calmly. He slowly extended his hand towards, silently asking her to take it.

Yubel was surprised at the male's calm demeanour, having her at a loss of words once again. Yubel considered to refuse his offer, however realized that staying in the ruins sulking was not going to make things better. Quite the opposite in fact, and as such accepted the other spirit's offer, taking his hand.

Their hands connecting sent another pleasant shiver down Astral's spine, the tingles of touch still something foreign to him. Suppressing his urge to let go, be focussed in the key, seeing if he could transport themselves to the key directly. Much to his own surprise it did, as after a flash, they found themselves at the centre of the mechanism inside the key. After confirming their arrival, Astral slowly let go of Yubel's hand, his own falling back to his side.

Yubel didn't say anything, instead she stared at the structure surrounding her, she was met with new details she hadn't caught the first time she'd been there. Her eyes then fell on a sort of wall to her right. It existed out of many tile-like panels, each featuring a number. What truly stood out to her was the fact that some of the panels were glowing, it was only a minority though. The panels containing the numbers 11, 12, 17, 19, 34, 39, 61, 83 and 96 were glowing, 9 in total.

Astral followed Yubel's gaze, waiting for a moment before speaking up. "They're seals for the number cards", he said, Yubel's attention turning to him. "They're malicious xyz monsters that possess their owner and only seek destruction."

"Ekseece?" she asked, confused. Over time Yubel had learned about many new summoning techniques and the monsters fitting them, however he hadn't heard about this one yet. Yubel was once again reminded of her last time she'd visited the human world, however not the curious part about it. She remembered the destruction originating from Zero Reverse, something that another unfamiliar monster race had caused; synchro. Xyz must be the synchro's 'replacement'.

A small chuckle snapped her out of her daydreaming. "No, x-y-z, xyz", he repeated a bit slower, how there was still a trace of a smile left on his expression. "We have to collect all 100."

"So not all xyz monsters are numbers, but all numbers are xyz monsters?"

"Yes."

"But why do you have to collect them? What do they have to do with you?" Yubel then asked, averting her gaze from the seals to look at Astral.

Astral didn't follow her gaze this time, instead he kept staring at the numbers. "The numbers are fragments of my memory." He paused for a moment. "Upon my arrival here on earth something went wrong with my connection to Yuma, which resulted in me losing all my memories. My memory split up in 100 number cards who spread over the world. I was sent here with a purpose, however I do not know what that purpose is, and time is of the essence here..." he trailed off, frustration increasing the volume of his voice.

"It's alright", Yubel reassured him, though she couldn't explain why she did it, "Go on, I'm listening."

With a sign to calm himself down, he continued, telling her everything he knew, from his memories to his encounters with Kite and Zexal. The way he describes his memories was amazingly detailed, so much Yubel wondered if this was the case because of a great natural memory or because he only had so little memories to share that he could spend so much detail on them.

Yubel listened attentively to everything he said, still looking at the seals. It was then that she noticed a single one standing out just a little bit. The panel itself didn't look out of the ordinary, however it seemed to glow brighter than the others, the glow itself also being a bit darker. Yubel couldn't help but wonder why that was the case. Curiously she got closer to the wall, reaching out to the peculiar tile.

Noticing Yubel's movement, Astral became quiet, watching her instead, only to immediately approach her and stop her from touching it. Quickly he grasped at Yubel's arm, freezing her entirely.

"Don't. 96 is a truly bad number", Astral spoke up, interrupting her actions. He wasn't sure what effect Yubel would have on the seals, but he didn't want to take any risks.

The female spirit blinked confused before retracting her hand. "Sorry" she answered plainly, though she still seemed to be a bit distracted.

Astral let go of Yubel's arm and returned to his previous position. He then sighed, more to fill the just created silence than anything. "You really don't know anything about me, do you?" he then asked, trying to hide his disappointment.

Turning her attention back to Astral, she furrowed her eyebrows. "None of the things you explained rings any bells," she shrugged, "I'm sorry I can't help you." While Yubel held quite some knowledge on the duel spirit world and its contents, she'd never heard of Astral World, or anything else he'd said for that matter.

Another silence took over, one so thick it seemed to even deafen the spirits' own breathing. Both were occupied by their thoughts, either processing new information or reconsidering old ideas.

Astral couldn't help but see irony in the fact that he'd approached her for information earlier that day, however ended up giving much more of it than he received. His thoughts trailed back when he'd been brought to her. There was still one thing he wanted to know.

"Yubel… can I ask you a question?" he spoke up carefully.

Ignoring the urge to give a witty response, she answered: "Go ahead."

"Who were you talking about earlier? In the-", he stopped to think about how to phrase Yubel's home, "ruins?" he settled with.

The question took her by surprise, forcing her to take a step back. The female hesitated. She then looked up at the clouds, as if she could see him right there. A small smile formed on her lips.

"His name is, uh, was Jaden" she started, correcting herself promptly. "He was my previous partner, and someone very dear to me." She felt tears welling up in her eyes, and despite her efforts to blink them away, a single one escaped, rolling down her cheek.

Suddenly, something, she assumed it to be Astral's hand, gently cupped her chin and forced her head back down so she was eye to eye with him. Then his other hand approached her, cautiously whiping the tear away. A small smile appeared on his face once it was gone. Her heart skipped a beat in surprise, her voice stuck in her throat. _'Someone else… cared?'_

Her voice broke as she spoke, despite speaking soft enough that Astral had a hard time understanding her. "Why.. Why did you do that?" Yubel asked.

He tilted his head, not quite sure himself. "I just felt that it didn't belong there…"

' _What did Tori say it was called? Love? Yes, maybe I am in love with Yubel.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all I currently have when it comes to rewriting. Originally I had 8 chapters written out, so there's only 3 to rewrite left, after that I'm back to writing blind.

**Author's Note:**

> In the hopes of resparking my love for writing I'm moving my stories from fanfiction.net to here.  
> This story is in the middle of a rewrite, and as such will only upload the rewritten chapters.


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